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Sahela Re: A Novel
When Vidya, a music scholar, sets out to write a book on the history of Hindustani classical music, she uncovers the remnants of a time and a tradition fast when singers embodied the ragas in their purest forms; when patrons were worshippers, not followers.
Revealed through fascinating anecdotes, correspondence, legend and gossip are the highs and lows of the artistes' lives, as they loved and lost, and moved on from mehfils to gramophones; we witness, too, the passion music provoked in the lives of its connoisseurs. Making our way through Benares, Calcutta, Bombay and New York, we meet Hira Bai and Anjali Bai - a mother-daughter duo known as much for their singing as for their beauty and intelligence; the gifted Allarakkhi Bi, a friend to Anjali Bai; the famous singer Husna Bai, Allarakkhi's mother; and their descendants, who attempt to salvage what remains of the old music for new listeners on foreign shores...
Mrinal Pande's Sahela Re is a heartfelt ode to an era when music was sacred. Translated masterfully by Priyanka Sarkar, it will stay with you like the unforgettable memory of a precious song...
Revealed through fascinating anecdotes, correspondence, legend and gossip are the highs and lows of the artistes' lives, as they loved and lost, and moved on from mehfils to gramophones; we witness, too, the passion music provoked in the lives of its connoisseurs. Making our way through Benares, Calcutta, Bombay and New York, we meet Hira Bai and Anjali Bai - a mother-daughter duo known as much for their singing as for their beauty and intelligence; the gifted Allarakkhi Bi, a friend to Anjali Bai; the famous singer Husna Bai, Allarakkhi's mother; and their descendants, who attempt to salvage what remains of the old music for new listeners on foreign shores...
Mrinal Pande's Sahela Re is a heartfelt ode to an era when music was sacred. Translated masterfully by Priyanka Sarkar, it will stay with you like the unforgettable memory of a precious song...
- GenresIndia
283 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 13, 2023
2 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Mrinal Pande
42 books10 followersMrinal Pande (born 1946) is an Indian television personality, journalist and author, and until 2009 chief editor of Hindi daily Hindustan. She left Hindustan on 31 August 2009. She was appointed chairperson of Prasar Bharati, the official apex body[clarification needed] of Indian broadcast media by Congress Government. This appointment commenced on 23 January 2010. She was replaced by Dr. A. Surya Prakash as chairperson of Prasar Bharati. She also hosts a weekly interview show Baaton Baaton Mein on Lok Sabha TV under Congress Government. She is the daughter of the Hindi novelist Shivani. Earlier she worked for Doordarshan and STAR News during Congress regime. She has also written a few short stories. She was the editor of the popular women's magazine Vama from 1984-87. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 24, 2023
Mrinal pande is a composer. Music composer to be precise. Her lyrics soothe your nerves, and her ways of narration will linger in your blood for a long, long time. At its core, “Sahela re” is about searching for lost Hindustani classical music and its legendary singers. The women who contributed and worshipped music, and their patrons who celebrated and held baithaks to showcase the beauty. As the book unravels, we discover ustads who shaped Hindustani music, how they treated musical notes with utmost devotion, and their disciples who kept following the traditions and mastered the vocal art.
At its core, “Sahela re” is fiercely feminist. The author celebrated the women, tawaifs, and their daughters, sharing their journey of becoming flagbearers of thumri and tapka, and the ups and downs in their career and personal lives. She talked about the tragic endings of Puritan culture which got faded due to contemporary musical preferences and lost patronage due to political circumstances.
At one point in the book, she described how British colonial rulers and their narrow-minded mentality looked down upon native cultures and that this thought process got trickled down into the mindset of Indian politicians who also had the same perspectives towards these women. Due to lack of support something as old as the civilization got forgotten.
I am unfortunate that I am not fluent in Hindi enough to read this book in its original text. Indeed, I am overdependent on the translators who meticulously translate books keeping their original emotions intact. Priyanka Sarkar did an exceptional job when it comes to this particular book. It can be very tricky to translate languages like Awadhi which got words that cannot be converted into English without stripping off the feelings, but here she did an outstanding job for which I shall always be thankful to her.
Mrinal Pande’s writing asks for pause now and then, only to let the thoughts get absorbed well into the blood and it’s a kind of book that I want to read time and again only to submerge myself in her world.
At its core, “Sahela re” is fiercely feminist. The author celebrated the women, tawaifs, and their daughters, sharing their journey of becoming flagbearers of thumri and tapka, and the ups and downs in their career and personal lives. She talked about the tragic endings of Puritan culture which got faded due to contemporary musical preferences and lost patronage due to political circumstances.
At one point in the book, she described how British colonial rulers and their narrow-minded mentality looked down upon native cultures and that this thought process got trickled down into the mindset of Indian politicians who also had the same perspectives towards these women. Due to lack of support something as old as the civilization got forgotten.
I am unfortunate that I am not fluent in Hindi enough to read this book in its original text. Indeed, I am overdependent on the translators who meticulously translate books keeping their original emotions intact. Priyanka Sarkar did an exceptional job when it comes to this particular book. It can be very tricky to translate languages like Awadhi which got words that cannot be converted into English without stripping off the feelings, but here she did an outstanding job for which I shall always be thankful to her.
Mrinal Pande’s writing asks for pause now and then, only to let the thoughts get absorbed well into the blood and it’s a kind of book that I want to read time and again only to submerge myself in her world.
July 24, 2023
“Pure sur belongs to neither a pandit nor an ustad. It rises from the depths of singer's bone marrow.”
🎶
Sometimes I wonder about the countless stories that lie dormant; waiting for a connoisseur to discover them & pleasantly mould them into pieces that'll forever live on.
Mrinal Pande is that connoisseur who breathes life into the bygone era of Hindustani Classical Music & although she writes a fiction, it encompasses within itself countless true fictionalized accounts, marking the trajectory of evolution of music, its singers & listeners.
In her epistolary novel, "Sahela Re", seamlessly translated from Hindi by Priyanka Sarkar, we meet Vidya, a music scholar, who seeks out to record the history of Hindustani classical music.
Her journey leads her to reconnect with old family friends—scholars & music lovers like her, who have witnessed the glories of Musical Gharnas, downfall of mehfils & shift to Gramophones. They welcome us to their revered ragas, legendary singers, patrons, inner circle gossips, love, heartbreak & betrayals.
Sahela Re is exquisite & well researched work that pays tribute to the sacredness of music, its artists & listeners; while simultaneously highlighting the interplay of caste-class-religious-political divide & women's position in a society, as India shifts power from the British Raj to a free India, marred by the partition horrors.
As we lament the loss of musical inheritance, evaded by the capitalist music market, Mrinal Pande, leaves her readers on a hopeful note that all might not have been lost (yet). The salvaged remains of the ragas continue to breathe in the souls of classical music lovers, crossing borders & beyond.
If you're a music lover & wish to tread the lush territories of musical notes, with a slow but immersive read, then pick this & savor the labyrinth path.
I enjoyed being a part of this journey, feeling like a child, listening to her family share anecdotes of lost years.
🎶
Sometimes I wonder about the countless stories that lie dormant; waiting for a connoisseur to discover them & pleasantly mould them into pieces that'll forever live on.
Mrinal Pande is that connoisseur who breathes life into the bygone era of Hindustani Classical Music & although she writes a fiction, it encompasses within itself countless true fictionalized accounts, marking the trajectory of evolution of music, its singers & listeners.
In her epistolary novel, "Sahela Re", seamlessly translated from Hindi by Priyanka Sarkar, we meet Vidya, a music scholar, who seeks out to record the history of Hindustani classical music.
Her journey leads her to reconnect with old family friends—scholars & music lovers like her, who have witnessed the glories of Musical Gharnas, downfall of mehfils & shift to Gramophones. They welcome us to their revered ragas, legendary singers, patrons, inner circle gossips, love, heartbreak & betrayals.
Sahela Re is exquisite & well researched work that pays tribute to the sacredness of music, its artists & listeners; while simultaneously highlighting the interplay of caste-class-religious-political divide & women's position in a society, as India shifts power from the British Raj to a free India, marred by the partition horrors.
As we lament the loss of musical inheritance, evaded by the capitalist music market, Mrinal Pande, leaves her readers on a hopeful note that all might not have been lost (yet). The salvaged remains of the ragas continue to breathe in the souls of classical music lovers, crossing borders & beyond.
If you're a music lover & wish to tread the lush territories of musical notes, with a slow but immersive read, then pick this & savor the labyrinth path.
I enjoyed being a part of this journey, feeling like a child, listening to her family share anecdotes of lost years.
June 29, 2024
Came to this book through the Suitably Booked bookclub - whose book of the month this was. Great premise -an investigation into the classical music tradition.
Indian classical music fascinates me - maybe because I know so little about it. And yet its everywhere - my mother learnt classical music for years at Triveni Kala Sangam and I can still see her tanpura, as it lay in a corner of our Jamshedpur bungalow, material evidence of her musical life. And then of course Heeramandi and the focus on the art of the tawaif.
All of this made me come to Sahela Re with some enthusiasm. Its clearly a labour of love, full of little anecdotes about musical personalities - however what didn't work for me was it was all 'tell' and very little 'show' - so we hear reportage on the lives of these musicians through the letters of Vidya to her estranged brother and to her friend cum publisher who s financing this research into music project.
Classical music lovers will probably lap this book up, for an ignoramus like me it fell flat.
Indian classical music fascinates me - maybe because I know so little about it. And yet its everywhere - my mother learnt classical music for years at Triveni Kala Sangam and I can still see her tanpura, as it lay in a corner of our Jamshedpur bungalow, material evidence of her musical life. And then of course Heeramandi and the focus on the art of the tawaif.
All of this made me come to Sahela Re with some enthusiasm. Its clearly a labour of love, full of little anecdotes about musical personalities - however what didn't work for me was it was all 'tell' and very little 'show' - so we hear reportage on the lives of these musicians through the letters of Vidya to her estranged brother and to her friend cum publisher who s financing this research into music project.
Classical music lovers will probably lap this book up, for an ignoramus like me it fell flat.
August 13, 2024
#4 - lowercase letters on the spine, and
#50 - a musical instrument on the cover (Tanpura).
Earlier I was so confused by the chunks of historical facts in the letters because I was expecting it to be a fictional book, even in its epistolary format. Imagine my surprise when they started talking about the British Raj in great detail in one of the letters. Frankly, idk what I was expecting but I liked it after all. I suppose there was no way around telling about Hindustani classical music without mentioning the deredar tawaifs and the mehfil culture... we think about the great ustads and pandits but it was these courtesans who were the actual keepers of the fine arts. and then the progression of music to where it is today. In the end, I did get somewhat attached to the story about Hirabai and her daughter Anjali bai, and even the family of Sukumar Chacha and Putul that gives the other side of things (the upper-class family dynamics with generational wealth and a love for the arts and music).
#50 - a musical instrument on the cover (Tanpura).
Earlier I was so confused by the chunks of historical facts in the letters because I was expecting it to be a fictional book, even in its epistolary format. Imagine my surprise when they started talking about the British Raj in great detail in one of the letters. Frankly, idk what I was expecting but I liked it after all. I suppose there was no way around telling about Hindustani classical music without mentioning the deredar tawaifs and the mehfil culture... we think about the great ustads and pandits but it was these courtesans who were the actual keepers of the fine arts. and then the progression of music to where it is today. In the end, I did get somewhat attached to the story about Hirabai and her daughter Anjali bai, and even the family of Sukumar Chacha and Putul that gives the other side of things (the upper-class family dynamics with generational wealth and a love for the arts and music).
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews